Guides looking for volunteers

Picton Girl Guide Unit seeking adult volunteers

Last year, almost 100 County girls and volunteers took part in the Picton Girl Guide Unit. Comprising Sparks, Brownies, Guides and Pathfinders, the girls ranged in age from six to 15, and took part in activities at the Hope Centre in Picton every Monday evening. However, several adult volunteers have since moved away, and the program is in jeopardy. “We are struggling to find more leaders,” says Dawn Stafrace-Middleton, who is the volunteer leader of the Pathfinder group. “[Last year] was amazing. We had a whole bunch of girls, it was really great, really exciting.”

(L-R): Brownie Daisy, Guide Leader Alysha and Spark Pippa offer some Girl Guide cookies at TASTE Community Grown in 2017.

The programs at the Hope Centre were mostly driven by the girls and the volunteers themselves, with some input from the umbrella organization, Girl Guides of Canada. “For the younger girls, it was a lot of crafts and skill-building and some basic First Aid,” says Stafrace-Middleton. “It’s just a great time for girls to hang out with each other and do things together without an educational component as far as school goes. Girl Guides is a nice way to share in interest points with other people who are interested in a little bit of everything. Plus they learn a lot of self-confidence, how to take care of themselves, how to take care of their friends.” The older girls are given a bit more independence, and take more of a leadership role within their group. “With the Pathfinders, they direct meetings and they direct programming,” says Stafrace-Middleton. “If they want to go to on a big camp, then I help them figure out how to do that—what do we need, how do we fundraise. It’s great for them to problem-solve and work things out.”

The girls in the group come from different economic and educational backgrounds, and being in Girl Guides brings them together in the same space to share experiences and do things they may not have had the opportunity to do before. One project in the works for the Pathfinders is a trip to Scotland in 2020, or possibly even 2019 if all the pieces can be put in place. Keeping the program going is very much dependent on finding adult volunteers. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to help local kids, be a role model and participate,” says Stafrace- Middleton. “We have so many girls and only a few parent volunteers. So more volunteers would be amazing.”

Volunteers are required to have a background check, but no special skills are needed, just a desire to help young girls develop and expand their abilities in a safe, supportive and inclusive environment. Additional training, such as First Aid qualification, can be partially subsidized by the Girl Guides. For more information, please visit girlguides.ca, or send an email to 1stpictonguides@gmail.com.